Belize 2023 - Sunday, July 23 2023

Our leader, Marshall, came to wake us up at 7:00am so we could leave at 8:00am for church. Before we could leave we had to get Hattieville Baptist (the church we were staying at) ready for service. We packed up all of our stuff and put it in a classroom, and we put all the pews back where they belonged. Before we left, we also had to pack a change of clothes for our afternoon activities - it was a busy morning!

We took the bus to Sandhill Baptist church and got cheesy eggs and Johnny cakes for breakfast. After breakfast we started setting up for Sunday School. At 10:00am Sunday School began. We taught everyone about Acts 1:8 ("But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”), everyone seemed to enjoy both the lesson and the activities. After Sunday School it was time for church service. Jacob, Elizabeth, Christi (one of our leaders), and some local youth led the worship and Nathan gave a wonderful sermon! We all enjoyed meeting, and making connections with the local people.

After an amazing morning, it was already time for lunch. We ate chicken, rice, and potato salad - everything was delicious! After lunch we all got changed so we could do our afternoon activities. We split into groups and some local youth took us around the community so we could advertise our Vacation Bible School (VBS). It was so awesome to see the kids' faces light up while we told them about VBS.

Once we got back to Sandhill Baptist, we were informed that our leaders had found a bigger church for us to stay at nearby. We were all excited because the new church had four showers and four bathrooms! We went to Hattieville Baptist church to pack up our stuff then we took a bus to Sandhill Zion Protestant Methodist church to get settled in. After we got our air mattresses set up and unpacked we had a couple hours of free time. In that time people rested, journaled, talked, and played cards.

After our chill time we went back to Sandhill Baptist for dinner. We had another amazing meal which consisted of bean and fish empanadas. The meal was so good that many of us went back for seconds and thirds, Will even licked off his plate! We then took the bus back to Sandhill Protestant church for our evening devotional. We read Leviticus 8:22-23 and got our big toes, thumbs, and ears anointed just like Moses did to Aaron. After our meeting we finished planning for VBS then took our showers and got ready for bed.

22 He then presented the other ram, the ram for the ordination, and Aaron and his sons laid their hands on its head. 23 Moses slaughtered the ram and took some of its blood and put it on the lobe of Aaron’s right ear, on the thumb of his right hand and on the big toe of his right foot.

Come back tomorrow to read about our adventures from Monday, July 24 2023